MCAS Practice Test Open Response Answers:#12: The digestive enzymes in the table function in some organs to perform the chemical digestion of food. The major organs of the digestive system are the esophagus, large intestine, mouth, pharynx, small intestine, and stomach.A)List these six organs in the order in which food passes through them.B)Identify which of these organs is primarily responsible for absorbing nutrients from digested food.C)Describe the functions of twoof the organs listed other than the one you identified in part (b).Biology students investigated various human digestive enzymes. The table below summarizes the functions of several different digestive enzymes.EnzymeFunctionsalivary amylasebegins to break down starch into smaller polysaccharides or the disaccharide maltosepepsinbegins to break down proteins into small polypeptidespancreatic amylasecontinues to break down starch and smaller polysaccharides into disaccharideslipasebreaks down fats into glycerol, fatty acids, or glyceridesaminopeptidasebreaks down small polypeptides into amino acidsThe students conducted experiments to study digestive enzyme activity. In the first experiment, the students observed the rate at which salivary amylase breaks down starch (the substrate) in solutions with different pH values. The students then performed the same type of experiment with pepsin. The graph below shows the students’ results for the two experiments.Return to Question